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The public schools need to focus on academics and school safety before they even begin to discuss athletics. The traditional inner city public schools are out of control and most of the time those kids are 3 and 4 years behind those kids graduating from the top tier private schools.

I completely agree with most everything that you have stated. The problem is that the TSSAA has educators with little if any practical business experience running a multimillion dollar business. Even the Board of Control has very little if any business experience. This all leads to most of the problems that the TSSAA encounters. Yes, the bylaws should be rewritten to mirror things that are happening in today’s world. If I were in charge of rewriting the bylaws I would get coaches, not administrators that represent the entire State of Tennessee and “LISTEN” to what they have to say. I am talking about rural, inner city, affluent and blue collar areas and schools. They are all different but they must come together and reach a consensus to help the overall being of the organization.

Let’s be completely honest and discuss how the D2 schools are the haves vs the have nots. Brentwood Academy, Lipscomb, Baylor, McCallie, CPA and Montgomery Bell Academy have pushed all of their chips to the center of the table and are playing to win. MUS and Ensworth are trying to decide if they really want to go out and recruit the types of kids that will help them win at the highest level but may not fit the current profile of students they have enrolled at the school. Father Ryan, Pope Prep, Norte Dame and Christian Brothers appear to have basically said that we want to give it the old college try but we could care less about winning and losing high school football games at the highest level. After many years of doing this that said attitude is now rearing its ugly head and many of the old line Catholic families that would never have crossed over to the dark side are sending their athletic kids to Brentwood Academy, Lipscomb, Baylor, McCallie, CPA and MBA. Is it possible for the have nots to resurrect their athletic programs, sure but it will take some major changes that begin with a complete attitude adjustment with their Board of Trust and administrators. A perfect example of how to turn a program around is to look at what happened when Lipscomb hire Trent Dilfer.

As a leader (TSSAA) you must anticipate all situations. The TSSAA has always been reactive and never proactive to every situation. Please keep in mind that Brentwood Academy placed the TSSAA in a precarious financial position and if the TSSAA were not a “State Actor” and had they been a private business they more than likely would have been forced to close their doors or file bankruptcy. As an entrepreneur it has been my experience that the best way to save money is to stay as far away from legal proceedings as possible. Typically the only one that wins when both sides retain legal services is the attorneys. In my narrative the only one paying for legal fees is the TSSAA as the school is being provided with “FREE” legal services. When you have the very best attorneys charging $500.00+ per hour is doesn’t take long for the cash register to run out of money.

Let me tell everyone how this is going to go down. Someone that has zero affiliation with either team is going to show up to a game. That individual will be razing the official and giving them the business while keeping all language and gestures clean. Without any warning some official with rabbit ears will get embarrassed and toss the said individual out of the facility without even a verbal warning to back off. At that time the home school will be fined by the TSSAA. The next step is that the home school will file legal proceedings against the TSSAA and it will cost them nothing because one of the school parents is the managing partner at a major blue blood law firm. During the legal proceedings it will be proven by a physician that the individual that was thrown out of the game had severe mental issues and the school had no way of knowing or preventing a problem. It will also be proven that the official has a quick temper and been terminated from several jobs and while not felonies they have an arrest record that’s four mile long. In the above mentioned instance this will cost the TSSAA a lot of money and absolutely nothing will be accomplished. In closing I will leave you with this; if I show up at the state basketball tournament on the campus of MTSU and get tossed out of a game who is the TSSAA going to fine? This may be the most asinine rule that the TSSAA has ever implemented. Do they not ever consult with their average at best legal counsel before making rules?

The father was a good player not a great player

One is judged by the way that they elect to be judged! Some people want to be compared to those in their local counties, with some it's a regional thing, several want to be compared to those in their state and then you have the very small and elite few that truly want to compete with the best in the country. It just depends on how large someone's ego is and what sacrifices they are willing to make as to how they wish to be judged.

West Tennessee should begin to grow when the new Ford F-150 electric truck plant opens in Stanton which is about 45 miles outside of Memphis. That plant will be a real shot in the arm for a once booming agricultural area.

Texas playing better high school football than Tennessee has nothing to do with the population base in Texas being much larger. A larger population base would produce more athletes but that has nothing to do with resources and coaching. The facts are that Texas places more emphasis on high school football and the coaching at the high school level than Tennessee and its not even close. At most of the larger Texas high schools the head coach does not teach any classes. The public schools are so good that very few private schools are good enough and do not compete with the public schools. What most people don’t know about Texas is that the elected school boards set the tax rate for that school district. In Tennessee the counties collect the property taxes and distribute the money to the school districts. In Texas the school boards decide how much money they need and the money is paid directly to the school district.

Nashville and the Middle Tennessee area consistently rank as one of the Top 2 cities in the country along with Austin, Texas for people relocating. One thing that I am sure of and that is the top public-school teams in Tennessee would get killed by the top public-school teams in Texas. Texas places much more emphasis and resources on high school football than Tennessee.

In high school athletics the teams that win at the highest level get their average players to consistently play better than the other team's average players. Typically, the top players will cancel each other out! Just look at the great DeLaSalle teams out of Concord, CA when Bob Ladouceur was coaching, they would have a few really good players but most of the team never played beyond high school. They simply out worked and out schemed the competition.

That’s not fair that you are using simple math to make your case. Lol

D2AAA has been incredible for a long time but it’s getting even better.

It was reported that all of the schools (both D1 and D2) voted overwhelmingly that they wanted the following with regards to boarding schools and transfers: 1. If kids transfer to a boarding school after they have already established an athletic record, they must sit out for one complete season. The TSSAA Board of Control voted this down even though their member schools approved it by over 75%.

Officials are leaving not due to the fans but due to two factors: 1. In past years had judges, physicians, businessmen, etc. that officiated games because in their younger years they played the game at a high level and want to stay involved in the game. For whatever reason those individuals rarely ever get into officiating and now we have people that didn’t play the game at a high level and are doing it as a major source of income. 2. If the pay is increased you will see more qualified individuals get involved in the game. Like Dorris Armstrong once told me “all of these people say they are officiating for the kids but if you ever stop paying them they will stop officiating”. Simply put most people want to be compensated fairly for their work. I officiated for over 25 years and I only ever remember having one (1) fan ejected. If the official walks into the gym like a professional everyone will know that they are in charge and rarely will confront them or act like a fool. As an official you stop the game and give a verbal warning to the disobedient fan and that normally eliminates all issues going forward.

I completely agree that fans that are out of control must be dealt with in a timely fashion. The issue at hand is what is being disrespectful, is it cursing, giving the officials the middle finger, or just screaming at the official that they made a bad call? This all must be clarified and the TSSAA, game administrators and officials can’t just make these decisions based on their personal feelings. What are we going to do if someone from Nashville shows up to watch a game between Knoxville Farragut and Morristown and begins to act like a fool but has zero ties to either school? Are you just going to levy a fine to the home team because an idiot happens to show up at the game on their campus?

Once again, MBA moved their national game with Byrnes of South Carolina to Vanderbilt in order to accommodate all the patrons.

3+ hours early to get a seat. There will probably be 10K+ people trying to watch this game. Let’s not forget that many of the seats will have already been sold to LA season ticket holders. This is why I ask the question why LA wouldn’t consider moving the game to Vanderbilt.

It sounds like the coach failed to play “LIL JOHNNY” and someone with a little authority wanted a change. This is one of the major issues with regards to small town politics.

Since when has the TSSAA ever been proactive? The TSSAA is the most politically charged and inept organization in the State of Tennessee.

Another 285/lb guy that is rarely mentioned is former Brentwood Academy, University of Tennessee and NFL player Bubba Miller. He was a true gentle giant that could go when he needed to win.

You sure don’t mind playing MBA every season and picking up a check

If kids are not healthy at the beginning of preseason practice I would never count on those kids being back at full strength during the season. You may get them back on a limited basis but being able to play a full game is a completely different animal.

Why would Oakland not be a full strength when they have not even begun preseason camp

Any chance that this game would be moved off the Lipscomb campus which has very limited seating and parking to Vanderbilt which can accommodate more fans? I know that when Byrnes was nationally ranked and came to Nashville to play MBA the game was played at Vanderbilt.